Even for a non-Mormon, touring the new temple in Cedar City is worth it. Trust me, I know.

OPINION — To use the proper vernacular of our state from the get-go, I am not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, I have in-laws who are members, so when I accepted the media invitation to preview the new Cedar City temple, I decided to approach this rare opportunity to get a glimpse inside from the vantage point of a nonmember.

What sorts of things would non-Mormons get to see? Would the veil be pulled back? Would they walk away with a better understanding of the ceremonies that took place behind doors that would normally be closed?

Even though I’m not Mormon, I’d be lying if I said there isn’t a certain mystique about the temple rules, rites and rituals that intrigues me. And it’s even more fascinating to me that many of the specifics of these same rules, rites and rituals are also a mystery to members of their own faith.

My wife, who was baptized in the church, wasn’t able to watch her own sister’s wedding – or “sealing” – ceremony. I let go of my non-Mormon animosity in my late-20s, largely after moving out of state and realizing it was possible for people of different walks of life to disagree on some pretty fundamental issues and still get along, but that fact always seemed like a bummer to me, and I have to imagine I’m not alone, even with members of the church.

But at least there is a possibility of them eventually getting a temple recommend and being allowed to enter a temple after it has been dedicated. This was going to be my only chance.

Cedar City temple at night, Cedar City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of mormonnewsroom.org, St. George News / Cedar City News

The view from the outside, both literally and figuratively

The temple is definitely stately and can be seen from many vantage points, including almost the length of southbound Interstate 15 where it runs through Cedar City.

Some have been vocally critical of spending so much money on such a grandiose building – and when you get inside, this description remains – when there are so many needy people in the world, but this feels to me like one of those “I’m not Mormon and have to find something to be critical about.”

Just look at almost every major religion, and you will find monuments, from a Catholic cathedral to a Buddhist temple. The LDS temples are no different in my mind. And, in fact, a previous article from St. George News talks about why the Mormons build temples. It was elucidating to me, and I would recommend it if you really need to know why.

“If you understand why we build temples, you must understand first that we believe in revelation and in the restoration of the gospel,” Boyd K. Packer says in the video, “and to restore means to bring back something that was lost, not a new invention but a restoration of that which was known anciently.”

I get that, even if just in a literal sense. You can see it in the architecture of the temples – some more so than others. The Cedar City temple is kind of in the middle of what I would’ve chosen, aesthetically speaking, given all the designs I’ve seen. However, I learned there was a specific reason for that design choice.

Elder Larry Wilson, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department for the LDS church (and our tour guide), explained that the Cedar City temple was designed, both inside and out, to be reflective of the area.

“When you see the exterior of the temple, it looks like the temples that were built during the early pioneer era here in Utah,” Wilson said. “So it is very much reminiscent of the St. George and Manti temples, Logan, the other early temples of the church.”

So I don’t have a problem with what others may view as excessive.

Now how about that location? Well, that’s kind of a different thing for me. If I were a Mormon, that’s exactly where I would put that thing. It’s beautiful all lit up on top of Leigh Hill, and you can see it for miles.

So look toward the temple. Point your children toward the temple. From the days of their infancy, direct their attention to it, and begin their preparation for the day when they may enter the holy temple.

This will not be a problem in our area. As I said, you can see it for miles.

But you can see it for miles. For a non-Mormon, as I’m driving around town or along that stretch of I-15, it’s a constant reminder of being on the outside. But at least it’s a pretty reminder.

And I also have to remember where I live. There are approximately 21,500 members of the LDS church in Cedar City alone, Wilson said in his opening comments. That’s roughly 2/3 of the population, and the temple is estimated to serve approximately 45,000 members in the surrounding area.

It would be foolish of me to say they shouldn’t have their monument. Or more specific to the LDS church, “the most sacred place on Earth,” Wilson said.

“For us, it is the house of the Lord and a place of unsurpassed holiness.”

Crossing the threshold

Back when I was trying to support my choice of a bachelor’s degree in English, I worked construction for several years, including building two stake centers in Colorado. If you’ve ever sat in one of those chapels and wondered what holds that ceiling up, I can tell you it’s a pretty cool feat of engineering.

This columbine flower on a door handle is one of many small nods to Southern Utah evident throughout the temple, Cedar City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of mormonnewsroom.org, St. George News / Cedar City News

The design of a temple definitely takes it up a notch, but what was surprising to me was that it’s the smaller details that are worthy of note. There was no large chapel, which I was expecting, and most of the rooms we toured weren’t much bigger than the upstairs of my house (except for the ceilings, but I’ll get to that shortly).

But this was explained as well. The meeting houses and chapels are more about community, Wilson said, but the temple is more focused on individual contemplation of your place in the universe and with God.

It would seem that much of the design was set to also remind visitors of their place in Southern Utah. From the many landscape paintings lining the walls depicting familiar red cliffs and spires – some of which were commissioned just for this temple – to the smallest details of juniper leaves and berries carved into the corners of thick wood molding around the doors, there are both obvious and more subtle reminders of our part of the state’s place in the universe as well.

If you take the public tour, which I understand will be considerably quicker than our tour on Monday, be sure to look for these small details. Someone put a lot of time and sweat and love into them – like the person/s who handpainted the flora on some of the ceilings. Whew.

But the fact is, many of these details can be seen just by going through the front doors (read: as far as someone like me would make it once the temple has been dedicated in December).

Through the front windows, visitors can view a stained-glass window salvaged from a Presbyterian church razed in 2008, Cedar City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of mormonnewsroom.org, St. George News / Cedar City News

Another unique aspect of the Cedar City temple visitors can see upon walking into the main entry area is one of two beautiful stained-glass windows of Jesus Christ.

“Most temples do not have stained-glass depicting the Savior the way this one does,” Wilson said. “They both came out of a Presbyterian church in Queens, New York, that was razed in 2008. A member of the (LDS) church acquired them and donated them to the church.”

There were four panels, Wilson said, two of which ended up in Cedar City – the other panel can be seen at the rear entrance of the temple.

The tour we took went through the room with the baptismal font on the first floor, through various functional rooms (like dressing rooms or “locker” rooms, for lack of a better word), then continued up through a small chapel, more stairs, the information and endowment rooms (think “Why am I here and what do I do now?”… at least I believe that’s right), the celestial room and ending in the sealing room.

What’s most interesting as an outsider is how the very décor changes as the tour progresses, especially going up. What jumped out immediately at me was the change from dark brown stained wood on the prominent molding and trim to all-white.

Wilson said this is meant to represent a very literal rising above the Earth closer to heaven, and I will admit that as I continued, whether resulting from pure elevation, décor change or whispers of divinity in the building itself, the effect was hard to deny.

And where color was removed in some places, it was added in others, with additional, even subtler details, such as on the columbine flowers evident in the art glass windows. Even the ceilings were higher in the rooms that served more important functions.

The celestial room was the most impressive and was also representative of this idea. I was turned around a few times in the duration of the tour and lost my sense of direction, but given the height of the ceilings in this room, I have to wonder if we were under the spire itself.

But I couldn’t ask a question in the celestial room. It is a room of contemplation, meditation, consideration of the broad context and eternal perspective, Wilson said.

When he described the room before we went in, I thought “This is where I would probably spend a lot of time if I were a member.” A place of peace and quiet to ponder some of the bigger questions or problems in our life. It reminded me of the brief stint I did attending a branch of the Quakers in Montana that just spent an hour in silence, with people speaking only as they felt moved. In our busy world, this is a rare moment.

However, while I thought the celestial room was certainly beautiful, there was something missing, which brings me to my final point.

Where is God?

The celestial room did indeed feel like our tour group was that much closer to heaven, but on this particular day, it felt more like God’s waiting room.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist at least one joke, and kidding aside, it does give an overall sense of my tour experience. If this is one of God’s only houses, it didn’t feel like he had arrived yet.

When I was working construction, I could make everything look wonderful and finished and polished and clean, but it didn’t go from being a “house” to a “home” until people moved in.

The manual for preparing to enter the temple talks about this in a sense:

If you go to a meeting early and sit in the chapel quietly and watch the people arrive, you see that they bring something with them. The spiritual temperature warms up and the room is changed. …

This first struck me in the baptism room, where, by the way, Wilson was careful to not only say that baptism for the dead was mentioned in Corinthians but also that it doesn’t force deceased ancestors into the church but rather give them the choice. This was something that I previously misunderstood.

It was a beautiful room, but I could only imagine how it would feel to be in there for a ceremony. I could almost imagine how there would be a different “spiritual temperature.”

And as he spoke of the celestial room – and again, maybe also as a result of that effect of touring onward and upward – it was hard not think of my own place in the universe. How am I living? Am I keeping my own covenants with my soul? We would all do better to ask ourselves these questions now and then, whether in the celestial room or by yourself next to a mountain stream.

Making this connection was part of the reason for the tour, and Wilson said they are excited for all members of the community to see the temple, even those like myself.

“For those not of our faith, it’s a special opportunity to see the interior,” he said, “to understand what is done in various rooms in the temple and to get a very good sense for why members of the church regard it as the holiest place of all, as the house of the Lord.”

For a morning, I got a sense of that, of how this is a holy place for them, and I can respect that, even more so now that I have a better understanding what happens there. This is still not my temple. This is their temple, but I’m glad for them to have it.

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About the Author

Paul D. Dail received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in English with a creative writing emphasis from the University of Montana, Missoula. In addition to his contributions to St. George News, he enjoys writing both creative nonfiction and fiction (with a penchant for the darker side of the page). Paul's first novel, a supernatural thriller entitled “The Imaginings,” is available wherever ebooks are sold, and his collection of flash fiction, “Free Five,” has spent over three years in the top 50 Kindle Horror Short Stories since its publication in 2012. In addition, his creative nonfiction has appeared in The Sun Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Elan Woman and Etched Magazine.

You wrote a very nice description of your experience, and it’s also very nice to see someone from outside appreciate the love and devotion to God that goes into one of these temples. I’m looking forward to my tour appointment in the Cedar City Temple.

I have always found the architecture uninspiring but as these temples have increasingly popped up I am appalled by the light pollution. SW Utah is a mecca for night skies and now a temple beams massive lights on top of a regions prominence.